Mr. Darabedyan goes to Canada

Glendale High graduate set to fight Sunday

locals shine in tourneys.

GLENDALE — The following are odds and ends from the local sports scene.

ANOTHER NEW, BIG STAGE FOR FIGHTER Along Karen Darabedyan's road to World Extreme Cagefighting, there were only seldom times in which his fighting career ventured away from California.

But when Darabedyan boards a plane today to leave for his next WEC bout, he will once again find himself somewhere new — this time in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada.

"The cool thing is I tell my friends if it wasn't for fighting I probably wouldn't get out of Glendale," said the 9-2 Darabedyan, who will take on Will Kerr on Sunday night as part of WEC: Varner vs. Shalorus at Rexall Place in Edmonton.

Darabedyan, a Glendale High graduate, fought in the Philippines early in his career, but other than that, the first eight fights of his career took place in California.

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Since a Sept. 2009 bout for the Shark Fights promotion in Texas, Darabedyan has been a traveling man.

Thereafter, he made his WEC debut in Las Vegas, defeating Rob McCullough in November before heading east to Ohio where he was caught by Bart Palaszewski in an armbar and lost March 6.

Along with the new cities, countries and sites comes the thrill of fighting in front of big crowds.

"It's different having all those people, all those fans, just the energy," Darabedyan said. "I'm slowly getting used to it."

One aspect of familiarity that will return for Darabedyan when he faces Kerr (8-2) will be the return of his longtime coach, Gokor Chivichyan. Chivichyan was absent from the Palaszewski fight as it coincided with the opening of his new gym. But Chivichyan, a legendary figure in the fighting community, will corner Darabedyan along with his manager Darin Harvey and friend and training partner Aro Muradyan.

The Darabedyan-Kerr bout is set to be the sixth fight of the 11-match card, taking place just before the show goes live on Versus at 6 p.m. PDT.

Weigh-ins for the event are set for Saturday at 4 and will also be at Rexall Place.

With a loss behind him and a new journey and opponent in front, Darabedyan appears poised for the next step.

Said Darabedyan: "I can't wait to get to Canada and go out there and put on a show."

BURROWS SHINES AMONG STARS Renaissance Academy's Ed Burrows hung with the best on Saturday at the War on the Floor/Future Stars boys' basketball game at Taft High and showed the Wildcats have plenty to look forward to.